One problem I would like to solve is the growing percentage of dementia-stricken elderly. Of course a cure for this disease would be astonishing but modern technology and knowledge hinders scientists from formulating such a cure. This is why I believe that we as people should focus more on the prevention of dementia rather than searching for a cure. I've found, through my research, that there's a variety of dementias - Alzheimer's, Vascular, Lewy Body, Mixed, etc., the list goes on. No matter the type, unless genetically inherited, can be prevented in several ways. For instance, keeping a steady workout routine, watching what you eat, drinking plenty of water, lessening the amount of alcohol and smoke intake, and keeping a positive mindset are all …show more content…
However, modern America has become somewhat of a wasteland trashed with fast-food chains at every corner and tobacco companies luring unsuspecting customers into an unhealthy addiction, so keeping a healthy lifestyle can be somewhat troublesome. If we wish to change this, we have to show citizens first hand accounts of the life-altering effects of dementia. Take my grandfather for instance, after about 30+ years of his father running their family owned car business, he took it over and ran it for another 40+ years until he was afflicted with vascular dementia after a bypass surgery about ten years ago. Watkins Automobiles, the business, was his lively-hood, he cherished waking up every morning and going to work just so he could see another happy customer walk off the lot with a car. Little did he know, little did any of us know, that his world would come crashing down. I remember it clearly, I was in Hawaii around six years of age when my mom got the call. "Your grandfather just had a heart-attack," my heart sunk. Here I am eight or so hours away and all I could do was wait for a phone
Patient living in the nursing homes with diagnosis of dementia experience Disruptive behavior. According to Burton et al. (2015) more than 44 million people have dementia. Dementia affects memory, thinking and social abilities. These symptoms severely interfere with daily functioning of the patient. Approximately 90% of dementia patients demonstrate psychological and behavioral symptoms such as anxiety, agitation, depression, hallucination, delusion, and aggression (Chen et al., 2014). Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are a varied group of non-cognitive symptoms affecting demented patients. These symptoms are delusion, hallucination, agitation, anxiety, euphoria, disinhibition, night-time behavioral disturbances
It slowly takes over your mind, catapulting its victims into darkness. Profound forgetfulness and involuntary physical violence. There is no worse fear then forgetting loved ones, having them take care of you every day, but for some reason, it's hard to remember who they are and what the mean to you. Most likely if you ask any healthy senior citizen what they fear most as they go into old age, you'll hear Alzheimer’s and Dementia. To help prevent Alzheimer's and Dementia primal lifestyle is crucial to a healthy brain function. The American Medical Association (AMA) should educate young and healthy individuals as well as those with predisposed Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) on how to prevent these cognitive impairments. Educating individuals on how to avoid, progression and future treatments of AD and DLB is a step in the right direction, to stop and one day fully eradicate AD and DLB.
People who have dementia are not aware of requirements for living. They can forget to do the essential things that are vital. Taking medicines, hygiene and even eating are often forgotten. They can get lost or hurt and not understand what is necessary to correct a situation. Turning on the cooker or water and forgetting to turn it off again, locking doors, crossing streets etc can all be dangerous even deadly. In the same way as you would not think an infant capable of self care, a person with dementia cannot be either. Considering the facts that they cannot act in the manner of a
No one wants to lose their mind. But the reality is that the risk of dementia doubles every five years after the age of sixty-five. Is there anything that can be done to prevent this age-related loss of brain function? Are There Ways to Reduce Dementia Through Lifestyle Changes? European researchers analyzed 1,433 people over the age of 65 to determine what lifestyle factors would reduce the risk of dementia the most. After getting a complete medical history on the participants, they tested their cognitive function at intervals over a seven year period. What did they find? According to this research, the two best ways to reduce the risk of dementia is to eliminate diabetes and depression - both of which are dementia risk factors. If both of these factors were eliminated and more people were encouraged to eat fruits and vegetables, the number of new cases of dementia would drop by 21%. There 's some controversy as to whether depression actually increases the risk of dementia - or whether it 's simply an early sign of the disease. This study suggests that depression probably does increase the risk of the disease - and isn 't just a symptom. It 's not surprising that diabetes is a risk factor since it 's associated with insulin resistance. Some studies show insulin resistance increases the risk of dementia. Another way to reduce dementia risk is to encourage people to be literate and educated. This study showed that the number of new cases of dementia would drop by 18% if
There are many diseases that result in dementia. The most common types of dementia are Alzheimer’s disease; vascular dementia; Pick’s disease; dementia with Lewy bodies (Fronto-Temporal); Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD); Huntington’s disease.
Working in a hospital setting predominantly with older people, I have encountered many who have been diagnosed with dementia. Dementia is a term used to describe the symptoms caused by certain diseases or conditions of the brain of which there are two main types; Alzheimer’s disease and Multi Infarct dementia more commonly known as Vascular dementia. Dementia is caused by the death of nerve cells in the brain which cannot be replaced which means that dementia is a progressive condition that gets worse over time and cannot be reversed. It is also a long term condition because it takes months or even years to progress and there is no actual cure. (Alzheimer’s Society 2014) This degenerative condition is more common in older people, however,
Everyday more and more people are effected by dementia. This disease is taking over the lives of innocent people around the world. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources have designed The National Plan to Address Alzheimer’ Disease. This plan focuses on many important areas greatly affected by this irreversible disease and concentrates on the struggles one faces during its presence. I found three areas to be very important to the future of Alzheimer’s and other dementias; Expand research aimed to identify and treat Alzheimer’s, Educate and support people with Alzheimer’s and their families upon diagnosis, and Enable family caregivers to continue to provide care while maintaining their own health and well-being.
It also shows the need for more effective treatment method to stabilize the disease process and provide quality care for dementia sufferers.
Being first diagnosed with this disease the symptoms are often subtle and can go unnoticed. Some examples of this can be the person diagnosed with dementia can forget where the bathroom in their house is or that they left the keys in their car. Then the disease will progress to more noticeable effects such as not remembering the rules of the road and forgetting where you are going while driving. For Chris, in The Truth about Dementia, this is exactly what had happened to him. Chris for all of his life was into motorcycles and owned his own auto body shop. When he gave his license up after getting confused while driving, his symptoms seemed to get worse at what seemed like a fast pace. For dementia patients this is a normal process in their disease. Chris also stated that he while he still had some of his cognition left, he wanted to keep telling his family that he loved them because once his dementia progressed he knew he wasn’t going to be the same and problem not be able to tell
Dementia originated from the Latin language meaning ‘mind gone’. The course of the disease declines to the last stage and the person will forget majority of his or her memory. The patient will go about his or her normal ways during the first stage of dementia; eyes and mind are clear. During the beginning of the last stage, the patient will depend on the caretaker for his or her needs and will not recall the things he or she has learned. In the last phase of the last stage, the patient will be “born again”, meaning he or she will derive from the end of his life to the beginning. Similar to the Alzheimer’s disease, the nerve cells in the brain become short. The brain will not function properly because of the shrinkage of the nerve cells, but
Dementia is the biggest health and social care challenge of this century. Over a million people will be living with the condition by 2021. Dementia can crush lives. For a person diagnosed with the condition, as well as their family and friends, dementia can mean an irrefutable life
One in three seniors die of Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia (Godman). Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia but all types of dementia diseases effect seniors and their families in a dramatic drastic way. Early signs of Alzheimer’s start as early as the age of 30 and can affect someone for the rest of their life. These diseases have become more reoccurring every year, effecting around 5.3 million Americans and will continue to change lives for the rest of time (Bender, 2). As of now, there has been no cure for Alzheimer’s but scientists and doctors are putting time and effort into an Alzheimer’s cure through research, trials and ways to prevent the disease.
Dementia affects about 3-4 million people in some way, either directly or indirectly. It is becoming more and more common as people are living longer. There is no known cause or cure for this disease, that affects adult’s ages 65-85 years old and is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.
“The concept of dementia has been around since early civilizations. Ancient philosophers viewed mental decay as a normal part of ageing. The prevalence and study of dementia increased as the lifespan of humans extended. In the late 1800s, with advancements in medicine and the ability to look inside the brain, the medical community realized that diseases could cause this deterioration. The most common dementia was named, in 1910, after Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist.
In order to understand the key social determinants of Dementia and to develop an effective prevention strategy it is crucial to understand some of the biology and epidemiology of the disease. Dementia is a brain disorder in which person starts to lose control of his/her cognition and starts to forget a lot. Around 7.5 out of 1000 people are affected with dementia around the world (Ref). Dementia is a typically more prevalent in seniors that are 65 years or older. There are many reasons for that main one being the other chronic disease that start to affect their body. Dementia is seen to affect more of the developing countries as 60% of all the dementia cases are in the developing countries. (Ref) So even though dementia has a biological reasoning it occurs its prevention lies within its social determinants that make this disease so prevalent.